Soudas did nothing wrong in reaching out to Port of Montreal, Harper says

FREDERICTON – Stephen Harper came to the defence of one of his top aides Wednesday amid accusations that Dimitri Soudas tried to influence who got the top job at the Port of Montreal.

On a Quebec campaign stop, the prime minister was asked about media reports that accused Soudas, his communications director, of seeking to influence the Port of Montreal’s choice for a new chairman in 2007.

“The board of directors in this corporation appoints its CEO; it’s not unusual for the government to express its preference,” Harper said.

“The government did. The board took another decision. We respect that decision and we work with the board and its president.”

Media reports say Soudas attempted to strong-arm members of the board into choosing Robert Abdallah, a former director-general at Montreal City Hall.

The job eventually went instead to Patrice Pelletier.

The Globe and Mail and Radio-Canada reported that a federal cabinet minister took the unusual step of contacting port officials and urging them to disregard any political pressure.

Michael Fortier was the minister of public works and the Conservative lieutenant for Montreal at the time of the appointment.

“I asked my office to send the message that the prime minister did not have a preferred choice and that the selection of a new president was up to the board of directors and its members,” Fortier said in an interview with the two news outlets that investigated the story.

Soudas, who is travelling with the prime minister’s campaign, issued a written statement that said the government “indicated its preference” for Abdallah, the former director general of the City of Montreal.

“There was no interference whatsoever,” Soudas said by email.

“We expressed a preference and made it crystal clear that the decision was ultimately for the board of directors of the Port of Montreal to take.”

Soudas stuck to his statement when he was questioned by reporters before Harper’s campaign buses set off for New Brunswick.

Asked why the government preferred Abdallah, Soudas said: “Look at his resume.”

“Did you meet with them (board members) to discuss this appointment?” Folco asked.

“No,” Soudas replied.

In a follow-up email on Wednesday, Soudas said the issue of the next CEO “was discussed very briefly” during a meeting with the board on its priorities.

Soudas reiterated that the meeting and the government’s “preference” for Abdallah have been “in the public domain for several years now.”

Harper’s rivals seized on the stories, calling them further evidence of a Conservative penchant for pork-barrel politics.

NDP Leader Jack Layton, for one, called for a public inquiry into the controversy.

“An inquiry would be justified because to have a communications director to get directly involved, if the allegations are true, we have a big problem,” Layton said.

He called it “yet another example of the Conservatives appointing their friends, people close to the government, getting the cushy jobs and the powerful positions.”

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff noted it’s not the first time a staffer in the Prime Minister’s Office has been at the centre of controversy, citing the case of Bruce Carson, a former Harper adviser who was hired despite several fraud convictions.

“There’s a whole history behind the Prime Minister’s Office,” Ignatieff said. “Mr. Soudas has the duty, the obligation, to tell the truth to Canadians as soon as possible.”

“Knowing Mr. Harper and the fact he controls everything, Mr. Soudas intervened on his behalf and with his consent,” Duceppe said at a campaign stop in Farnham, Que.

“That seems very clear to us.”

Duceppe said it is “serious” and “very worrying” that Harper’s communications director would be involved in the process to name someone whose appointment is supposed to be free of political sway.

“It is Mr. Harper’s duty to answer questions about this…. That’s the least one can expect of someone who is trying to become prime minister.”

Duff Conacher, of the group Democracy Watch, said in a letter to media Wednesday that Soudas’s conduct, as described in the story, may have been a violation of the federal conflict-of-interest law.

“Section 8 prohibits these people from using ‘inside information’ and Section 9 prohibits them from using ‘his or her position as a public office holder to seek to influence a decision of another person’ to further private interests as set out above,” Conacher wrote.

Harper’s campaign literally lurched out of Quebec on Wednesday afternoon, as his bus crossed the northern New Brunswick border in a heavy snowstorm. Harper campaigned at a boisterous whistle-stop event in Edmundston, N.B., for former Mulroney cabinet minister Bernard Valcourt, and other area candidates.

Valcourt is making a federal comeback after nearly two decades on the political sidelines in the riding of Madawaska-Restigouche, which he last represented in 1993.

Harper called Valcourt “my friend” and told the partisan crowd he has an impressive record serving his region and country.

Harper’s bus pushed southward to an evening rally in Fredericton, after which he was boarding a late-night flight to St. John’s, N.L.